COVID vaccine pilot project going smoothly for one Regina pharmacist

For at least one pharmacy, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is going smoothly.

The Medicine Shoppe on Quance Street in Regina was one of the first 63 pharmacies to administer COVID vaccines. It started doing so on Thursday.

Allana Reaume, a pharmacist and the owner of the store, said Monday that everything had gone well so far.

“(It went) really smoothly with our online booking tool. We had everyone booked in on time … It went easily,” she said.

However, there have been some slight kinks to work around. She said the pharmacy did have to deal with multiple appointment cancellations.

“We’re learning it’s about communication. If people are able to get in at the drive-through, they’ve been good enough to let us know that they have already had a vaccine so we can make their appointment available to someone else. That’s the biggest thing,” she explained.

So far, everybody who has cancelled has let her team know in advance. However, even if someone was to not show up to their appointment, the pharmacy is still able to find someone to give a dose to.

“Luckily we haven’t had any no-shows yet, but we do have a wait list already. (When) people do cancel, we can notify the next person on our wait list via text,” Reaume said.

Her clinic went through all of its vaccine doses by Sunday morning. She expects to get more on Thursday.

The Medicine Shoppe isn’t alone; on top of the 63 that started off last week, another 41 pharmacies will be giving out COVID shots.